015/94

Recommendation Date
Recipient Name
CAA
Text
When approving an aircraft operating company, encourage that company to have in place a system to ensure that its employees confirm they have read and understood the Operations Manual.
Reply Text
The Civil Aviation Act 1990, Part II Section 12 subsection (4) states:

Every participant who holds an aviation document that authorises the provision of a service within the civil aviation system:
(a) Shall, if so required by the rules made under this Act establish and follow a management system that will ensure compliance with the relevant safety standards and the conditions attached to the document; and
(b) Shall provide training and supervision of all employees of the participant who are engaged in doing anything to which the document relates, so as to maintain compliance with the relevant prescribed safety standards and the conditions attached to the document and to promote safety; and
(c) Shall provide sufficient resources to ensure compliance with the relevant prescribed safety standards and the conditions attached to the document.

With respect to paragraph (a) above, no rules have yet been made under the Act to cover the operation in question, so that reliance in the meantime has to be placed on Civil Aviation Regulation 136 under which the Air Service Certificate was issued. Neither this regulation nor the related Regulation 141 specifically require a system to be in place to ensure personnel read and understand the operations manual. Although it would of course be prudent for an operator to have such a system and the CAA could be expected to encourage the same, there is no regulatory backing for the CAA to insist on it.
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